Flooding

Alex Davies-Jones Excerpts

Monday 24th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[George Eustice]

My hon. Friend makes an important point, but a lot of local authorities will say that they need access to that money, or at least to know that they will be able to reclaim some of their new burden costs, in order to make precisely the response he talks of.

[Alex Davies-Jones (Pontypridd) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State will be aware of the horrendous and unprecedented flooding that hit my constituency of Pontypridd last week. Our area has never before been hit with the flooding and landslides we have seen. My community and local authority simply could not have prepared for this amount of rainfall and devastation. Does he agree that we urgently need better protections? Will he fund an urgent review of all former coalmining sites in the south Wales area and bring forward the necessary funding to ensure the safety of all our communities?

[George Eustice]

The hon. Lady will be aware that this is a devolved matter, but I am more than—